


Intervention

by usedupshiver



Series: Drowning Sorrows [8]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Loki Feels, Loki Has Issues, M/M, Thor Feels, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 22:08:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2126322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usedupshiver/pseuds/usedupshiver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the day finally comes, and Loki is ready to stop running, Tony finds out that one of the most terrifying things can be someone willing to do <i>anything</i> to stay with you.<br/>Between them and utter destruction, there is only a soldier, and the remains of brotherly love. Tony is really hoping it will be enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intervention

"Tony? Could you please just sit down? Or at least stop for a minute? You're... Making me kind of nervous right now." Steve Rogers was sitting on the couch, elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped, watching Tony.

Tony, who was restlessly pacing the room. Brow furrowed, hands sharply twitching. His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. But he forced himself to stop, and turn to face the Captain. Sit down? No, not an option.

"Well, _I'm_ nervous. So I guess that's why. I really need to talk to you and I know you asked before if there was somehting I wanted to tell you and there was but I didn't think it mattered right then and I was in no shape to talk anyway so I let it slide but now it... Kind of matters again and I really need to get this off my chest and I don't think you'll like it no, scratch that, I _know_ you won't like it but I have to and -"

"Whoa!" Steve raised his hands with palms out. "Slow down and breathe, man!"

And Tony tried to. It didn't work so well.

"Just... I... Steve. I just need you to promise me... Fuck. You don't have to promise not to get all shocked and go slightly crazy. That's okay. But just promise me you'll hear me out before you do something about it. Could you?"

The blue eyes searched his face, bright and worried, but then Steve nodded slowly. "I'll hear you out, Tony. I promise."

"Good. Thats... Good." Tony hid his face in his hands and heaved a sigh, before looking up again. "All right. I won't get any more ready. Shit. Okay. You can show yourself."

He caught a glimpse of the flaring green light behind his left shoulder, and the tall, armoured shape appearing from it to stand there. But he kept his eyes on Steve, to see the man's jaw drop before he threw himself back in the seat with a shout. To freeze there, motionless.

"Really, Anthony. That was painfully embarrassing to watch." Loki's voice was soft by his ear, but loud enough that Steve should be able hear it.

"I'm fucking falling apart here! Cut me some slack! I don't have to deal with shit like this every day, you know?"

"I can tell."

Tony clenched his teeth and focused on Steve again. "So. Well. I guess you remember this guy? No introductions needed?"

Rogers' mouth opened and closed a few times before anything came out. "What the _hell_ is going on?"

Unable to keep a nervous grin off his face, Tony glanced at Loki over his shoulder. "Did you hear that? You made Steve say a bad word."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Yes, Stark, I'm sure I am the one having a bad influence on his vocabulary."

"Hey! I've had close to year, and nothing. You did it in like a minute!"

"I am so proud."

"You should be, he's really -"

" _Stop!_ " Steve's hands were pressed to the sides of his head when Tony looked back. "For the love of god. Please, stop! I think I may be losing my mind."

They did stop at that.

Steve's eyes were moving slowly between the two of them, his face going slack. And then Tony realized something; he wasn't going to need all the long, complicated and revealing explanations, excuses and whatever he had been trying to prepare for this. None of it.

That little moment of bickering had told Rogers more about the situation than fifteen minutes of Tony talking. And he could talk a lot in fifteen minutes.

"How long?"

"Oh. About... six months? Seven?"

"And you're still... You?"

"It's not a mind control thing, if that's what you're asking."

"You sure?"

"I guess." Tony looked over his shoulder again. "It's not, is it? I'd be really dissappointed if it was."

"You know it is no such thing." Loki's eyes turned to Rogers. "I assure you, Captain, Anthony has done nothing that was against his own will. Even my magic failed to influence him, the last time I tried. Since then, I have completely given up on the idea of getting a grip on his mind."

"He's trying to say that I'm stubborn and impossible", Tony clarified.

"That's... Not news to me, actually." Steve's face was still pale, and he looked a bit stunned, as if someone had knocked him really heard on the head. But there were no screams, no rage, no trying to bash someone's face in with a shield. 

All good.

"So, when you were so messed up a few months ago? That was... What was that?"

"Yeah, Well." Tony cleared his throat. "He left. For a while."

Okay, there was the stunned "knocked over the head with Mjölnir"-look. For real.

"He... left? And you just..." Steve closed his mouth with a snap. "Oh."

Tony could feel himself blushing, and hated it.

"And that's kind of the reason you're hearing about this." Tony threw himself into it, to get rid of the embarrassment. "Loki's sort of... Well. An illegal alien. Right now. And it's making my life really difficult."

" _Your_ life?" Loki muttered in his ear. "I am the one in hiding, Stark." 

” _Our_ lives, then! Damn, stop stealing my thunder.”

”I have some experience in that particular field.”

Tony gave a snort of laughter. ”Guess you do.”

Steve was watching all of this with wide eyes. Then he leaned forward and hid his face in his hands. ”I owe Fury ten more bucks.”

”What's that?” Tony frowned.

”Nothing.” Rogers looked up again, and now his face was more composed. He was a soldier, after all. He could deal with pretty much anything. ”So. You obviously want my help, even if I don't really see how I could be useful here.”

Tony turned to look at Loki, and found the green eyes turning to him in the same moment. It warmed Tony's heart in an odd way. But then it turned cold again. How the hell were thay supposed to explain this?

Loki's hand trailed a soft touch down his back, and then he turned to Steve.

”I have no choice but to turn myself over, Captain.”

”Why?” Rogers eyes narrowed. ”You have been on the run for almost a year. Why now?”

”Because there are other things searching for me, than my brother. Worse things, even. When I travel, hidden from asgardian eyes, they can more easily follow my trail. And when I hide from them... Well, then it is easier for Thor's allies.”

Tony listened, and felt his hands turn into tense fists. When Loki had returned, looking like a wrung out rag, Tony had thought he had just traveled a bit more than usual. Turned out, he had been spending a lot of time running from things scratching at him from another part of space. Trying really hard to mask his trail in Manhattan from Heimdall, he had caught the attention of others.

”And you would rather turn yourself over to Thor than face these... Things?”

”I had rather hoped to be rid of both problems, actually.” Even under the leather, Tony could tell he was squaring his shoulders. Was it a bad sign that he could read the guy this well by now?

”How?”

”By turning myself over to you.”

Silence. The most silent silence Tony had heard in a long time. No-one in the room even seemed to breathe.

”Me?” Steve's face was blank.

”Well, to _us_ , actually”, Tony added. ”As Avengers. To speak for him in front of Thor, when he arrives.”

”And what arguments do we have?”

"My crimes were committed against Midgard, on it's soil. This is were I should be setting things to right, after all. Not endangering your realm further by hiding."

"And if I refuse? Or if Thor refuses?"

Tony swallowed, knowing what was coming.

"Then I will give myself over to the hunters, and let them turn me into their gateway into Asgard. A gateway no scepter could close, that would make what I unleashed upon you seem like, as you would phrase it, a walk in the park." Loki's eyes glowed a bright, feverish green. "Chaos and destruction. That is what I give, if you refuse me."

"Still just after the throne, are you?"

"You misunderstand me, Captain." Loki's smile was a twisted thing. "When I say destruction, I mean for _all of it_. And me being torn apart first of all. There would be no version of that, where I could come out on top." Tony winced at hearing his own words repeated. "This is not my ambition talking. This i the revenge I promise, if he takes me from this place."

Loki straightened. His face was that mask of carved bone again. "I will not rot alone in an asgardian cell, or let them put me to the axe. I will sooner damn them all with me."

Steve's swallow was clearly visible. He turned to Tony.

"And you are okay with this?"

"Are you shitting me, Steve? Of course I'm not fucking okay with this! It's the most insane piece of crazy I have ever heard."

Loki sighed. "Anthony truly is an impossible, and most ungrateful creature. I tell him I would rather put all of Asgard to ruin than be without him, and he is still displeased."

Yeah, sure, because none of this was about Loki making one last, desperate attempt to save himself? About him having been on the run for so long he had no tricks left, and was reduced to threats of eternal horror against those he, despite denying it, still loved?

Right.

But there was no use pointing this out. They all already knew it.

"You bet your sweet ass I'm displeased", Tony muttered.

"You really don't believe you will have to, though?" Steve was addressing Loki again. "I mean, I'm sure Thor will be willing to do this for you."

Loki's smile then was just heartbreaking. It was sad and bitter and forlorn. And all of it made worse by shining through his attempt at disdain.

"Never for me. But to save Asgard, he would. Or so I hope. I have no wish to tear down my old home, Rogers. None. But I will. Never doubt that."

"I don't doubt it, Loki. Not for a second."

Tony didn't doubt it either. He knew Loki was desperate enough. And he also knew, even though he often chose to pretend he didn't, that in his own elegant, eloquent, ruthless and deceptively logical way, Loki was quite, quite mad. The sort of madness that came out of having lost everything, finding something, and being prepared to do _anything_ to hold on to it.

And did it make Tony feel good to be that thing? To have someone prepared to reduce a world to rubble to keep him?

Not even a little bit.

It scared the shit out of him, to be honest.

How the hell did you live up to something like that? Tony was a man who knew his worth, but damn, this thing was enough to give even him performance anxiety. 

He had seen that madness take root and grow in the last couple of weeks, since Loki's return. Something had changed, then. Maybe because Loki had admitted, to both of them, that he had done what he had done just to be back with Tony again? It didn't matter. Tony knew it was there, felt it in the way Loki sometimes held him painfully tight.

_(But then again, could he blame him? How sane had Tony been those lonely three months? Yeah, that's right – not sane at all.)_

Tony also knew that Loki was a man who was very often right. Even when, or even mostly when, you really didn't want him to be. Perceptive piece of shit!

But in this, he actually thought Loki was wrong. Tony thought Thor would be willing to do much more just for Loki, than he ever expected. The look in Thor's eyes when someone mentioned Loki's name made him think so. Hate didn't do things like that to someone. It didn't mess you up that bad. Love did.

”And what kind of punishment are you expecting here on Earth?” Steve, ever practical.

”Atonement.” Loki lifted his hands slightly, palms out. ”I invited chaos to your realm. But I can use my powers and my knowledge to protect you from it. Undo at least part of the damage.”

Steve studied Loki closely for a while. Then he studied Tony. Then back again.

”I'm fairly sure I'm going to regret this. But all right. I'm in.” He sighed. ”Now what?”

”Now, I let my shields down, let myself be seen. Then, it should only be a short time before Thor arrives.”

Tony stared intently, trying to find some sign of when it happened, but he saw nothing. At last, he just raised an eyebrow questioningly at Loki.

”It is already done.”

Tony sighed. ”Well. Shit. Then I guess we should just take a seat and wait.”

* * *

Tony and Steve seated themselves on the couch, nursing glasses of scotch. Completely useless to Steve, of course, but Tony needed it. Badly.

Loki refused to sit. Instead, he took his usual place by the windows, hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the skies. Tony often glanced over at him, but Loki never moved so much as an inch.

For what felt like forever, but was actually not even an hour, nothing at all happened. Then Tony suddenly noticed the world growing darker. Looking up, he saw clouds gathering, darkening. When the first flash of lightning passed over the city, followed by rolling thunder, it made him flinch, even though he had been expecting it.

”I guess it's time, then.” Steve slapped his palms on his knees, and stood.

Tony felt stuck to the upholstery. Staring out through the glass.

When the pillar of rainbow lights struck the platform outside, he had to lift a hand to shield himself from it. But it was gone in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a shape that was all red cape, sweeping in the wind. Tony glanced at Loki, and saw the hands behind his back turn to fists.

Damn. He was going to have to renovate the place again after this, wasn't he?

”I guess it is.” 

Tony emptied his glass, put it down and walked over to Loki. He could hear Steve follow, and without discussing it, they placed themselves in front of Loki. 

A human shield between gods. 

Super human, sure. But still. They had to be fucking mad...

”Should I suit up?”

Steve considered, and then slowly shook his head. ”Leave it. The more peaceful we can keep this, the better. If we can just get him to stop and listen, half the battle will be won anyway.”

”If.” Loki's voice was almost a whisper behind them. He still hadn't turned from the dark window.

Outside, the red shape was rapidly approaching.

”Let him in, JARVIS.”

”Yes, sir.”

The door opened, and Thor stepped out on the stairs above them. Suddenly the room seemed half the size, but Tony was too busy thinking about the weirdness of the moment to notice the overwhelming presence that was Thor.

A year ago, that had been him on top of those stairs. Looking down at Loki, who had been in almost the same spot as he was now. If he had known then that this day would come...? Yeah. Right. No use denying it; he would probably have lost his mind, right there and then.

Thor came to a halt when he saw them. Frowning, then staring. The stage sure wasn't set the way he had expected it to be, that was obvious. He must have prepared for walking into a fight, knowing where Loki had been found, which was understandable.

”What is this?” The frown was back. ”Loki? What have you done?”

Only then did Loki turn from the window to look up at Thor. Tony glanced up, to find the pale face perfectly composed and calm, and reminded himself, not for the first time, to never play poker with this guy.

”Why, nothing but turn myself over.”

”Then you are to come with me. I am taking you home.” He raised the hammer to point at Loki. ”And with the Bifrost to take us back, you will not slip away this time.”

Tony cleared his throat, and the almost electric blue eyes turned to him. ”Yeah, about that. You're not.”

”What are you saying, Stark?” The lines on Thor's forehead deepened. ”Has Loki managed to influence your mind after all?”

”He hasn't, actually.” Other parts, though. Most of all his heart. But this wasn't really the time for _that_ particular brand of awkward conversation. This was quite enough. ”He did, however, turn himself over to us. Offering to help rebuild and reinforce Earth's defenses. In exchange for protection.”

”What manner of protection?”

”Well. From you.”

Thor's eyes grew very wide at that. And then shifted back to Loki.

”Brother! I would never -”

”You would do anything your father asked of you, Thor.” The words were not loud, but there was an edge to the voice that cut Thor off.

” _Actually_.” Tony did raise his voice, to make both of them shut up. ”More specifically, from facing a punishment in Asgard.”

Thor looked at Tony again. ”Why would you protect him from justice? After the crimes he commited against you? Do you not remember?”

”Very well, actually. Mostly every time I take a shower. I have this pretty impressive scar on my... You know what? Never mind. The point being, he did commit those crimes against _us_. On Earth. We want justice. Really. We like that stuff almost as much as you guys do in Asgard. But it should be _our_ justice. He should be here, working to undo what he did. Not somewhere he can't do shit to help us.”

The following silence was long. Tense. Then Thor slowly came down the stairs. It was a relief to see him hang Mjölnir at his hip as he walked across the room. Not that the thing was very far from his hand there (or, well, anywhere), but Tony took it to be a good sign none the less.

When he reached them, Thor stopped. For a few moments he and Loki simply stood there, staring at each other over the barrier of human shoulders. 

Then Thor turned to Steve, who had so far not said one single word, Tony realized.

”Do you share this sentiment, Captain Rogers?” Somehow he sounded even more formal and regal when talking to Steve. ”Stark has always been obstinate.”

”Hey!”

”But I value your honest opinion, Captain.”

”Crying a little bit on the inside, over here!”

Thor and Steve were busy staring each other down. So none of them noticed Tony jump when Loki pinched his ass. Hard. That was going to leave a bruise, he could tell.

But he took the hint and shut up, waiting for Steves answer. For a second worried that Rogers would just shrug and go ”nah, not really, you go ahead and take the sorry sack of shit back where he came from”. But, you know, in a much politer way.

”I do”, Steve finally said. ”Loki should face our justice, for his crimes against us. It's the right thing to do, Thor.”

He did put a certain weight on the last part, Tony noticed.

Thor's eyes wandered slowly over all three of them, then back to Steve.

”I cannot claim to fully understand them, but I shall honour your wishes. And I shall make father do the same.”

There was some movement behind Tony then, and he thought he heard a soft snort. Maybe Thor heard it too, because he looked at Loki again just then.

”Would you let me pass? In peace?” He didn't take his eyes off Loki, but Tony and Steve knew he was talking to them.

It was Steve who made the decision, though. ”Of course.” He took one step to the side, out of the way. 

Tony hesitated, turning to Loki, but the green eyes were locked with the lightning blue ones. So with a sigh, he also backed away, and let Thor take the one step in between them, to stand directly in front of Loki.

”Do you truly mean to set your wrongs to right, brother?”

Tony knew the wry twist in Loki's lips was a wish to protest the ”brother”-part of it. But he seemed to swallow it, for now.

”I have already begun doing so.”

”Then I shall leave you to it.”

For a moment more, they just stared. Then Thor very slowly raised his hand, to place it on Loki's face, thumb touching the hollow of his cheek, palm cradling his jawline, fingers brushing into the black hair.

”But I still hope that one day, you are coming home with me. For good.”

Loki seemed frozen under the touch. And the words. Then the palest shadow of a smile touched his lips, but he didn't answer. Tony was pretty sure his eyes were reflecting a lot more light than they had done a minute ago, though.

Then Thor let him go, turned away, and walked off, towards the stairs. Also silent. Steps even faster than they had been walking into the Tower.

Tony watched him go, having trouble believing this had all actually worked. That they were all alive. That he wouldn't have to restore the place. Again. That they -

A hand around his waist, turning him around, interrupted his thoughts. Then that familiar hand pressed him agianst leather and muscle, suddenly all he saw was green eyes, and then a soft mouth was on his. But Tony still managed to, out of the corner of his eye, catch a glimpse of Thor's face the second before the pillar of light swallowed him whole. Even from a distance, the shock on it had been clear.

Damnit! The next visit from Asgard was going to be so fucking awkward!

But then there was this tongue on his and, well, whatever. That was all Future Tony's problem, anyway.

He hardly even heard Steves exasperated groan. ”Seriously? Could you please not?”

When Loki slowly let him go, the thin face was almost splitting in half with a wide grin.

”You really had to do that, didn't you?” Tony wanted to be annoyed, but the green sparkle made it very, very difficult.

”I really had to.”

”You piece of shit.”

Loki was still laughing when his lips found Tony's again.

”I knew I was going to regret this.” Steps disappeared off in the distance.

Poor Steve. Tony was really going to make it up to him. Give him the proper "thank you" he deserved. He really was. For sure. Later. When they were done celebrating.

Although. Well... Honestly? That might take forever.


End file.
